Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Spotlight & Giveaway: Hot Pursuit by Julie Ann Walker

Hot Pursuit

(Black Knights Inc. Book 11)

Julie Ann Walker

Blurb

Welcome to Black Knights Inc.

What appears to be a tricked-out motorcycle shop on the South Side of Chicago is actually headquarters for the world's most elite covert operatives. Deadly, dangerous, and determined, they'll steal your breath and your heart.

Fighting for his life is pretty much standard operating procedure for Christian Watson, former SAS Officer. Doing it with bossy, beautiful BKI office manager Emily Scott in tow is another matter entirely.

Emily didn’t realize it, but all her
acts of caring, her selfless moments of kindness—from waking him from his
nightmare to pulling him into the cab of the pickup truck—had torn open his
chest, ripped out his heart, and served it up on a platter.

Then, when she had stepped in front of
him, ready to take a bullet that was bloody well meant for him, he had stopped
pretending that what he felt for her was lust mixed with a heavy dose of
vexation. Stopped pretending that he wasn’t completely arse over teakettle
about everything she did, everything she said. Each smile. Each laugh. Each
witty quip.

In that moment, he had known. Heart.
On. A. Platter.

All she had to do was take it.

Unfortunately, he was the one taking.

Taking a kiss she hadn’t granted.
Taking a taste she didn’t return. Taking advantage of a beastly situation.

Had he lost his mind? Had he forgotten
the unwritten rule? The one that was bold, underlined, and all in caps?

Not to mention, he’d lost control of
himself, of the moment. He blamed it on the memory of Emily in that bastard’s
grip. The sight of her there—a pistol to her head, her eyes wide with fear, but
her jaw gritted tight because she refused to give in to it—was forever tattooed
onto the backs of his eyelids. He knew he’d see it when he closed his eyes at
night.

It took effort, but he ripped his
mouth away from Emily’s and dropped his hands. Curling his fingers into fists,
he locked his jaw until his molars begged for mercy.

“Whaaa?” She blinked up at him through
the rain in confusion.

“Sorry.” He ground out. The word was
guttural. Hard. “I shouldn’t have…” He shook his head, water flying from the
ends of his hair. “Just…sorry, okay?”

Her mouth opened in a bewildered
little O. That mouth that tasted like mint toothpaste with a lingering hint of
buttered toast. His favorite flavor used to be Welsh cakes, but now it was
Emily. Emily and her mint toothpaste with lingering hints of buttered toast.

“That won’t happen again,” he assured
her before grabbing her hand and towing her toward the others.

He had thought for sure the man in the
black pants and the white shirt was dead. Ben’s shot looked as if it had
drilled the bloke directly in the heart. Which meant Christian felt like a
total prat for stopping to ask Emily why she had stepped in front of him—for
stopping to kiss her—when
they arrived in time to hear the decidedly alive man whisper his name. “Philippe
Dubois.”

Christian was already pulling his
mobile from his soaking hip pocket. The rain had let up. No longer a deluge, it
was now more of a steady drip. “We don’t need security. We need an ambulance.
This man needs to go to hospital.”

He dialed 999 without hesitation and
waited for his call to connect. Dropping his free hand back to his side, he was
startled when Emily grabbed it, threading her fingers through his. They felt
dainty, delicate. And freezing wet. He desperately wanted to kiss them warmer,
kiss them dry.

Glancing at her, he blinked the water
from his lashes but couldn’t stop the questions in his eyes. So you forgive me? For taking without asking? For kissing
you when you’ve given me no indication you were interested?

Before she could answer, an operator’s
voice sounded in his ear, all efficient and bored. After explaining the nature
of Philippe’s wound and what had happened in the vaguest of terms, he gave the
operator their location. When she asked for his name, he growled, “That’s not
what’s bloody important. What’s bloody important is a man’s been shot and needs
help. Hurry!” He abruptly hung up. “Help is on the way,” he announced.

“Damnit,” Christian growled, looking
around for something to stanch the bleeding. Nothing else for it, he decided,
dropping Emily’s hand—he really, truly hated doing that—and shrugging out of
his coat. Next came his sweater. He tossed both pieces of clothing to her.

His white cotton undershirt was wet and sticking to his skin, but
it would have to do.

About the Author

Julie Ann Walker is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of award-winning romantic suspense. She has won the Book Buyers Best Award, been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Bookseller's Best Award, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, and the Romance Writers of America's prestigious RITA award. Her books have been described as "alpha, edgy, and downright hot." Most days you can find Julie on her bicycle along the lake shore in Chicago or blasting away at her keyboard, trying to wrangle her capricious imagination into submission.